NEWS RELEASE For further information contact: Donna Herring, dmherring@earthlink.net, 740-924-0516 Karen Holt, karen.holt@yahoo.com, 740-924-9355 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (May 20, 2007): ---Photos available--- WORKGROUP FOR CAPTAIN SCOTT HOUSE FORMS MAY 30 The Captain Scott House may have been standing silently by while the barns and silos are removed to make room for digging the basement in its new location, but the Friends of Captain Scott Committee has been noisy behind the scenes. "We've been calling our pledges," said Donna Herring, chair of the committee which is part of the non-profit Alexandria Community Council, "and trying to get the last few donations we need for the construction of the basement." On Wednesday, May 30, at 7:00 pm, the Friends of Captain Scott committee will meet at the Alexandria Public Library, and all parties interested in the house are encouraged to attend. "The roll-up-your-sleeves stuff starts now," said Herring, "and the people who volunteer now will have a chance to really get to know the house, to touch things and work on things that will be off-limits when, say, the second floor opens as a museum a few years from now." "For the basement, Hutchinson Materials has donated a lot of cement and other materials, but we still need some more cement block or poured walls, to make it a full, useful basement like the Cornell School has for classes and office space," said Herring. "We're working to get things lined up so we can actually have the house cleaned up and the exterior painted by Fun Days." Fun Days is a carnival and homecoming event held in the Village of Alexandria, which raises funds for the township fire department and is scheduled for July 18-21 this year. Jim Endsley of Endsley Grading and Drainage is one of the contractors who stepped forward with time and equipment for the Captain Scott House project. "That house has some real craftsmanship inside and out," said Endsley, "and this was a rare opportunity to preserve a piece of history. People like the idea of having it open to the public, the community center part of the plan, but we've got a long road ahead of us to get it there." Current plans are for the first floor to be a community center, possibly with a gallery room, and for the second floor to be a museum. The Captain Scott House was moved to make way for the State Route 161 widening project of the Ohio Department of Transportation. A new space for this grand Victorian home was found on the west end of the village of Alexandria and donated by Brookside Materials/Kurtz Brothers, a Columbus-area sand and gravel company. Barns and silos from a former dairy operation are being demolished to make way for the house. Once the house is on its new basement and stabilized, the restoration phase of the project will begin. The home was built circa 1870 for Joseph M. Scott, an outspoken abolitionist and prominent farmer and local historian who earned his captainship in the Civil War. A classic example of the Victorian Italianate architectural style, the home was built on a grand scale and includes a hand-carved spiral staircase and faux marble fireplaces. The Ohio Department of Transportation gave the house to the Village of Alexandria during the eminent domain procedure for the property. The Village did not have funds for a historic preservation project and so transferred the house to the Alexandria Community Council, which has raised the funds and in-kind donations for the project. The Alexandria Community Council is a nonprofit group active for over 75 years in support of community events and projects in the village and St. Albans township. To support this historic preservation project, come to the workgroup meeting, or send your tax-deductible donations to the Alexandria Community Council, Friends of Captain Scott Committee, P.O. Box 234, Alexandria OH 43001, or contact Donna Herring, Secretary of the Alexandria Community Council (740-924-0516), email CaptainScott@AlexandriaOH.org. For further information see the website www.CaptainScottHouse.org. ------end-----